MMGM NW Authors: Something To Hold by Katherine Schlick Noe

About The Book: Can a white girl feel at home on an Indian reservation?
Based on the author’s childhood experience in the early 1960s, this debut novel centers on Kitty, whose father is a government forester at Warm Springs Reservation, Oregon. Kitty is one of only two white kids in her class, and the Indian kids are keeping their distance. With time, Kitty becomes increasingly aware of the tensions and prejudices between Indians and whites, and of the past injustice and pain still very much alive on the reservation. Time also brings friendships and opportunities to make a difference. 
  
First Line: "Station One, this is Sidwalter Lookout. Come in!" A woman's voice, strained and urgent, drags me out of sleep.
   
Awesome Passage: When we arrive at the playfield after lunch, there's a big knot of kids at the backstop. Baseball happens, every day, even when the wind is biting, like today.

What Others Are Saying: "Kitty’s discoveries and ethical dilemmas are age-and era-appropriate, the characters affectionately portrayed, rounded individuals."--Kirkus
   
"Based on the author's own experiences, this novel fills a gap in the historical fiction genre. Great for classroom discussion as well as independent reading." --School Library Journal
Awards:  2012 Washington State Book Award for middle grade/young adult2012 Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People

What I Thought: I've only read a few middle grade memoirs but one thing that I believe is crucial is an authentic voice. Noe definitely nails it which makes this not only believable but enjoyable. Kitty's challenges are universal; great jumping off points for further discussion. I especially appreciated the layers of bullying she exposed. I think we often simplify the subject into bullies and the bullied, but reality is much mor complex than that. I highly recommend this as a great read-aloud for parents and teachers. 

About The Author: 
Katherine Schlick Noe
Website
Blog- Contributor of From The Mixed Up Files
Facebook
Literature Circles Resource Center
Guest Post

Who: Katherine Schlick Noe is Professor of Education and Director of Literacy in the College of Education at Seattle University. A former high school English and reading teacher, she received her Ph.D. in Reading/Language Arts from the University of Washington. Katherine works with beginning teachers in the Master in Teaching Program and directs the master's degree program in Literacy for Special Needs, preparing reading specialists. —Seattle University

Why: The years at Warm Springs were pivotal for me, as they are for all children between the ages of seven and eleven. Something to Holdis grounded in universals. We all long to find a place to belong, to make friends, to feel connected and rooted. The book also explores a unique perspective of a non-Indian outsider’s growing awareness of prejudice, including her own. —The Fourth Musketeer

Be sure to check back because part of my NW author focus will be interviews and giveaways so don't miss them. Next week The Ring of Leilani by Annie Crawford!

MMGM: Zia by Scott O'Dell

About The Book: A young Indian girl, caught between the traditional world of her mother and the present world of the mission, is helped by her Aunt Karana, whose story was told in Island of the Blue Dolphins.

First Line: After one of the big storms that come in from the islands, our shore is covered with clams.

What Other's Have Said: "Zia is a book worth reading, especially for nine and ten-year-olds that are studying the California Missions. It is also worth reading if one enjoys historical fiction. It does give an accurate portrayal of what life in the missions was like for neophytes. There were those who treated the natives with kindness and respect, but there were also long days filled with hard work and prayer."(Examiner.com Mar.'12)

"An almost unbearably moving story of what happened to the Indian woman, Karana, when she had been left alone at the end of The Island of the Blue Dolphins....Bound to be among the outstanding books of the year, on everyone's list."  (Publishers Weekly)

Awards:

2010 Island of the Blue Dolphins celebrated it's 50th anniversary.
An ALA Notable Children's Book

What I Thought: Several years ago, I read, along with my young daughters, Island of the Blue Dolphins.  I think it was one of the few Native American stories available about a woman. Karana was an excellent example of fortitude and bravery. Recently, while doing research I stumbled upon this sequel. It's important to understand that it is a completely different kind of book and if your looking for a continuation of Karana's world, you will be disappointed.  Blue Dolphins was about a girl growing into a woman facing nature and finding her own way. Zia is about what happened to her people and how their way of life was obliterated.This story focuses on survival over the Southern California Missions and religious pressure imposed by the Spanish. Ultimately, Zia learns from her Aunt about true freedom, even when circumstances are out of your control. This was an excellent historical fiction and was very glad I found it.  

About The Author: Scott O'Dell 

Website

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Who: Scott O'Dell was born on May 23, 1898, in Los Angeles, California, when there were no airplanes, no freeways, and only a handful of automobiles. Travel was by foot, by horseback, by horse-drawn trolleys or wagons.

If you look for Scott O'Dell's school records or records of his service in World War I, you will never find them. His father's name was Bennett Mason Scott, and until Scott was an adult, his name was Odell Gabriel Scott.

On one of his earliest writings, a typesetter's mistake produced an article written by "Scott O'Dell." Scott liked the new name so much that he had his name changed legally in the 1920s.

When: One of his last movie jobs was with Metro Goldwyn Mayer, when he went to Italy as a camerman on the silent version of Ben Hur. He enjoyed Italy so much that when the Ben Hurcompany went back to Hollywood, he stayed behind. He spent a year in the city of Florence, in a villa where Galileo had once lived. There he wrote his first novel. It was called Pinfeathers, but it was never published. No one will ever read the book, because Scott burned the manuscript.

Why: In 1960, with the publication of Island of the Blue Dolphins, his life underwent a sea-change. Scott had come across the story of a girl who lived alone for 18 years on San Nicolas Island while researching Country of the Sun. In the life of the Lost Woman of San Nicolas, he saw a way to make a statement about an issue that was important to him.

"Island of the Blue Dolphins," he wrote, "began in anger, anger at the hunters who invade the mountains where I live and who slaughter everything that creeps or walks or flies."

[All information was taken from the Scott O'Dell Website where you find many more interesting anecdotes to his life as a writer.]


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